It’s finally here: My first edition of Big Ten Three-Pointers, my weekly fun and informative look back and forward around the Big Ten hardwood. We offer up scoreboards and other features like BTN Connect daily, of course, but I like to take a concentrated look at the week in one special take. I also have a few notes for you to keep in mind before we dive in. Stay in touch with me via my BTN .com mailbox – I get lots of mail and it’s fun to hear from fans. Let’s keep it civil and let’s keep it fun.

Thursday brought conference openers for the four Big Ten teams that didn’t get going on New Year’s Eve. One game was a laugher, and one was a barn burner. Let’s dive right in. In a fantastic basketball game, Michigan came away with a hard-fought road victory at Minnesota. This one was tight the whole way, as neither team managed a double digit lead at any point. The Wolverines got a huge boost from their bench, with freshman Zak Irvin going 5-of-8 from three for 15 points, and big man Jon Horford posting 14 points and nine rebounds. Those nice contributions aside,

The first two Big Ten men’s basketball games of 2014 are in the books. Minnesota and Michigan battled until the Wolverines won 63-60. Jon Horford scored 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds to help Michigan withstand another loss of one of its star players and beat Minnesota 63-60 on Thursday night. In the other game, No. 5 Wisconsin handled Northwestern, 76-49. Freshman reserve Nigel Hayes had a career-high 19 points. Find links to our scoreboards and more in this post. [ MORE: View the complete Big Ten schedule ] MICHIGAN 63, MINNESOTA 60 | RECAP | PLAY-BY-PLAY Zak Irvin scored 15

We’re back again with another great contest as the Buffalo Wild Wings Trip to the Tournament Sweepstakes has launched in 2014. Enter at www.BTN.com/BWWcontest, and remember you can enter once a day. There’s a limit of one entry per person per e-mail address per day. Nine prize winners will be selected – eight weekly winners and one grand prize winner. The weekly prize is a $100 gift card to the BTN online store and the grand prize is a trip for two to the 2014 Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis. Read more in the official rules. And then enter right

On the final day of 2013, two-thirds of the Big Ten got the conference season underway in entertaining fashion. Ohio State withstood a valiant effort from Purdue before pulling away for the road win. More than anything else, this game displayed the Boilermakers’ potential, as they played even with one of the nation’s top teams for long stretches. Purdue nearly managed to score a point per possession on the Buckeyes–a feat which has been accomplished only once this season–despite shooting 3-for-14 from three and getting a lackluster offensive game from A.J. Hammons. The supporting cast did a great job of making

Johnny Orr, the fist-pumping basketball coach who led Michigan to the national title game and Iowa State into national prominence, has died. He was 86. His death was confirmed Tuesday by Iowa State, where Orr led the Cyclones to a school-record 218 wins from 1980 until 1994. Twelve of Orr’s 29 seasons as a Division I coach were at Michigan, where he guided the Wolverines to four NCAA tournament berths, the national title game in 1976 and 209 wins, the most in the school history. Orr was twice named the Big Ten’s coach of the year. In 1976, Orr was

With the nonconference season now in the books, BTN.com’s basketball panel decided to release its best of the 2013 nonconference season. From superlative honors to All-Big Ten teams, our guys offer their picks. See it all in this post. Don’t agree? Feel free to leave your picks in the submission box at the bottom of the post. [ MORE: Big Ten Geeks hand out nonconference report cards ] BIGGEST SURPRISE (TEAM) Wisconsin. We knew the Badgers would be good. Bo Ryan is still the coach, after all. But not a single person thought they would enter Big Ten play with

There are 12 games this week to open the Big Ten season. And many of the matchups will go a long way toward shaping the race, with Iowa’s trip to Wisconsin being the headliner. In fact, it could be one of the better games of the season. Here’s a ranking of this week’s games. [ MORE: Get Dienhart’s preview to the opening week of Big Ten play ] 1. Iowa at Wisconsin, Sun., Jan. 5. A must-see early Big Ten game that won’t disappoint, right? The undefeated Badgers will pose a challenge for a deep and talented Hawkeyes’ club that

We’re all set to tip-off conference play on Tuesday, which means it’s time to hand out our final grades for the nonconference season. We’ll do this in alphabetical order. Illinois: B The Illini have probably hit par, by going 11-2 in the non-conference schedule. By doing so, the team really hasn’t moved any closer or further away from an at-large berth. Coming into the season, we thought it was more likely than not that Illinois would miss the Tournament. With the Illini hovering at around 50 in the Pomeroy ratings, that still looks right—but there will be plenty of chances